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SPAR helps the integration of employees with changed work capacity

SPAR Hungary creates new value on the domestic labour market by which their social sustainability programmes provide real support more and more widely for those, who need it. The cooperation between the company and Janka Tanya is a guideline model for that how our fellow humans with changed work capacity can be integrated into the world of work.

It is important for SPAR Hungary to integrate the employees with changed work capacity and to solve their long-term employment. Therefore, it applies an equal opportunity rapporteur, organizes awareness-raising trainings for the employees, furthermore, it provides for more than ten years sales points to Szerencsejáték Zrt.: lottery tickets can be bought in almost a hundred super- and hypermarkets from people with changed work capacity. Currently, 119 employees with changed work capacity work at the company and it employs ten young people with disabilities, autism. From 2010, SPAR Hungary has won four times the Disability-Friendly Workplace Recognition, moreover, it has also received Accepting Workplace special prize which was given as a recognition for its realized programme with Janka Tanya.

It is a challenge for the economic operators to involve in a wider range our autistic or mentally disabled fellow humans into day-time and alternative employment. The cooperation of Janka Tanya in Tótvázsony and SPAR Hungary is sustainable and sets an example for us to follow. The purpose of the community, besides day care, is to provide development and rehabilitating employment for adults with changed work capacity, by which it facilitates and supports their integration into society. The effort, work and results of founders and workers of Janka Tanya were presented in November 2020 by the article published by Napi.hu with the title „They no longer look at us strangely that our team is „different” – an exemplary initiative for people living with disabilities”, which is available at the following link: https://www.napi.hu/magyar_vallalatok/mar-nem-neznek-rank-furcsan-hogy-a-mi-csapatunk-mas—peldamutato-kezdemenyezes-a-hatrannyal-elokert.716514.html

SPAR, being dedicated to equal opportunity, works together with Janka Tanya in Tótvázsony from 2017: two or three times a week, the INTERSPAR employees in Veszprém welcome the youngsters who carry out self-stacker and storage tasks there, moreover, ornaments and commodities made by them can be purchased at the annually organized Christmas and Easter markets in the centre of the company. The company has also made a report movie with the title „Hosszú út” (Long road) about the everyday lives of disabled youngsters living in the community in Veszprém county and about working together. The emotional movie, which presents that with the help of experts in Janka Tanya and with appropriate educational work our fellow humans with autism can also live a full life, is broadcasted on Saturday, 20th February 2021 at 10:25 by ATV television channel.

The movie was broadcasted by RTL Klub earlier and it is available on the website of the company: https://rtl.hu/rtlklub/fokusz/betekintes-a-janka-tanya-autista-fiatalok-mindennapjaiba-hosszu-ut-dokumentumfilm-spar

and you can watch the movie in full length on SPAR Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoU7mPijwIw&list=PL7ShKg970sBCEgyPkqs_7ruCHSusg1oLo&index=2

Our newest member is Auchan Hungary

Our newest member is Auchan Hungary which opened its first store in our country in 1998. The company is managed by Dominique Ducoux, and had a net sales revenue of 333 million HUF in 2019 with 7140 employees. The core business of the company includes the retail sale in non-specialised stores with food.

Auchan believes the food industry and retail chains play a big role in achieving sustainable food security. So far, the company has paid a lot of attention to environmental protection, and through their environmentally friendly solutions, they seek to play a prominent role in shaping consumer behavior. They are constantly working on minimizing the proportion of disposable plastics also considering their suppliers, partners and stores. This way, they reduce

their plastic production by 14,2 tonnes each year. Reducing the carbon footprint is also vital for the company: they modernized their refrigeration equipment, changed the light systems of the stores and parking zones and optimized their transport routes, etc. Auchan is taking an active role in food rescue, as they collaborate with the Hungarian Food Bank Association since 2015, thus every day the remaining food is delivered to those in need.

Their Charter of Ethics provides standards covering human rights and fundamental values, violations of which are monitored among their employees, partners and suppliers through their so-called Whistle-B system. The company rejects any discrimination. In addition, their parent company has been publishing its sustainability report for years, and its domestic adaptation is among their plans.

The purpose of joining BCSDH is to get first-hand information on sustainable development issues affecting the corporate sector, learn from success stories from member companies, moreover getting professional support and joining BCSDH events also contributed to their decision.

 

The Giving is Joy! initiative helps ten thousand families

The customers supported this year with donation cards worth of more than HUF 18 million the Giving is Joy! Christmas fundraising campaign of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and SPAR. By the donations, the Charity Service can deliver food packages to ten thousand families in need before Christmas. At closing the campaign, SPAR has made a special offering: she doubled the value of the customer donations, thus helping the programmes of Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta supporting needy people which can strengthen already at the beginning of 2021 thanks to the further HUF 18 million offered by SPAR. All in all, this year’s Giving is Joy! initiative ended with HUF 36 million monetary donation.

The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and SPAR organized 24th time the Giving is Joy! campaign between 16 and 21 December 2020. During the Christmas fundraising this year, the people in need got help by the purchase of donation cards. The initiative was carried out in 105 designated SPAR and INTERSPAR stores and in the SPAR online shop as well.

„The coronavirus pandemic has changed fundamentally our every day lives and set us new challenges. Although, this difficult situation has also pointed out how much it is needed that people help each other as far as possible. It is a pleasure to SPAR Hungary that during a pandemic, we could organize again together with the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta our traditional Giving is Joy! fundraising campaign. We would like to say thank you to our customers that they testified also this year their solidarity and contributed to the success of our initiative by their donations which we wanted to increase further, therefore we decided to double the value of the donations offered by the customers. Finally together with this, the result of the Giving is Joy! campaign was HUF 36 million monetary donation” – said Márk Maczelka, Head of Communications at SPAR.

The customers of SPAR and INTERSPAR stores has contributed to the charity initiative with donations worth of more than HUF 18 million. The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta has bought from this amount non-perishable food that was enough to ten thousand food packages which were delivered to the people in need before Christmas. The donation of SPAR helps that the needy people can get significant support in 2021 as well.

„The food packages are given to those families in need, elderly people left alone, people living with a disabled relative in difficult circumstances that are supported by the charity service. The packages are delivered by the workers of the charity service on the basis of an address list compiled in advance, and the homeless people can receive their packages in daytime warming shelters. We are really grateful to the customers, who also gave help in this new situation that we could make ten thousand food packages to the families in need” – said Tamás Romhányi, Head of Communication at the charity service.

The slogan of this year’s fundraising was also „I had another family”. This means that by their unselfishness, more and more people are bound together unknown helping each other. The charity campaign had also a surprise in 2020. Public personalities, TV characters as Nóra Ördög, Adrienn Marton, Edina Kulcsár, András Szabó „Csuti”, Andi Molnár and Anett Czippán sang together one of the most beautiful Christmas songs. Anyone could join to the recording of Silent Night via the website www.adniorom.hu, a common video was also made from the recordings.

SPAR popularizes the domestic products

The protection of good quality Hungarian products, the importance of supporting the domestic producers has increased particularly because of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. SPAR Hungary has been dedicated long ago for the domestic products and its producers, therefore the company joined to autumn period of the campaign Buy the domestic! Protect the domestic!.

„The pandemic has created a new situation in the domestic food market, in the retail trade. The epidemic endangers countless companies, the work and the living of many people. However, community partnership and the support of domestic products help the industry players to successfully go through this challenging period. SPAR Hungary, who is dedicated long ago to the Hungarian products, joins again to the campaign Buy the domestic! Protect the domestic! and participates actively in popularizing the products produced in Hungary” – said Márk Maczelka, Head of Communication at SPAR in connection with the initiative of Magyar Termék Nonprofit Kft. (Hungarian Product Nonprofit Ltd.).

„The Hungarian Product Nonprofit Ltd. has launched a campaign to call the attention to how important is to help each other now, to buy domestic products. The success of the campaign is proved by the thousands of private persons and the almost one hundred companies producing domestic products who joined until now” – explained the reason of the initiative Eszter Benedek, CEO of the company which runs the Hungarian Product trademark system. According to her, everyone has the opportunity to help each other also in this difficult situation, because with all of our shopping decision, we can contribute to that the members of our community can keep their jobs.

The customers entering into the SPAR stores become acquainted with the message of the initiative, which helps the conscious consumer decision supporting the domestic products and its producers. Besides SPAR Hungary, more of its suppliers has joined to the campaign as well, who are also entitled to use the logo #veddahazait (#buythedomestic).

ING in largest-ever sustainability-linked loan

ING has acted as joint sustainability coordinator together with Santander in the largest sustainability linked revolving credit facility (RCF) ever issued.

The USD 10.1 billion RCF for Belgian-based multinational drinks and brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) is provided by a consortium of 26 leading global financial institutions.

In addition to being the largest Sustainability-Linked Loan (SLL) ever, it is also the first among publicly listed alcohol beverage companies. The milestone facility has a five-year term and includes a pricing mechanism based on performance in four key areas that are aligned with AB InBev’s sustainability goals:

  • Water efficiency at AB InBev’s breweries globally
  • Increased PET recycled content in PET primary packaging
  • Sourcing purchased electricity from renewable sources as outlined in the RE100 commitment
  • Reducing Reducing greenhouse gas emissions as part of the science-based Climate Action Goal

“This major Sustainability-Linked Loan is an important milestone for both AB InBev and the beverage sector as a whole, “  – said ING CEO in response to the announcement of the deal. “AB InBev has demonstrated a clear ambition level by incorporating a broad set of material sustainability targets into this core lending facility. I’m proud that ING is supporting AB InBev toward their goals with this sustainable financing structure and at the same time implementing our strategy to help our clients to address climate risks and steer towards a circular economy.” – said Steven van Rijswijk, CEO of ING.

More details can be found in the press release of AB InBev.

 

BuildEXT plants trees and supports a hospital

This year, we will neither send branded “mug-wine-bejgli” gift packages, nor will we continue to pollute the sea with plastic waste, instead we will plant trees and help a hospital in a difficult situation from more than 1 million HUF. Because this year was very different from the previous ones.

Let’s start with some very good news: global greenhouse gas emissions have fallen, the rate of global warming has slowed. Don’t forget the bad news: COVID has slowed economies, paralyzed industries and endangered or ruined people’s health, lives and jobs.

We are part of a global and a local crisis at the same time, and while it would be easier to focus only on our customers and our profit, as a responsible organization, we are obliged to do more than that.

Anyone who saw David Attenborough’s – A Life on Our Planet knows that two-thirds of forests have disappeared from the face of Earth since the beginning of industrial civilization and biodiversity is declining rapidly, plunging our planet into a global catastrophe.

We are filled with hope that our hard work spreading a new framework (BIM) will reshape the way the construction industry works and is about sustainability in every way.

It is a new digital ecosystem that through technology and smart devices, implements efficient design, radically reduces unnecessary work processes and construction waste and allows a more economical building operation.

This means 20-40% cost reduction in the life cycle of a building which also means, less energy consumption, lower carbon emissions and reduced environmental impact overall.

This is our future, but we also want to have an impact on our present, so we decided to plant 1 tree seedling for every 100 m2 space planned in BIM on behalf of our customers.

So half of the amount we spent on Christmas presents was used to plant 1,000 seedlings with the help of MyForest.

However, sustainable development is not about only ecological balance, but also about increasing the quality of life.

As almost one-third of the BuildEXT team originates in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Hajdú-Bihar counties, it was an obvious decision to give the other half of the amount to support the Foundation for Patients in Zemplén run by Dr. Ernő Rácz, president of the foundation and head of maternity at Erzsébet Hospital, Sátoraljaújhely.

 

Our 100th member is the Yamazaki Mazak Central Europe s.r.o.

It is our great pleasure to announce our 100th member company, the Yamazaki Mazak Central Europe s.r.o. The company was found in 2004, and its General Manager is László Török, who is responsible for the Central-East European region covered with 144 employees, working from Hungary currently coordinates 41 employees in the Hungarian Branch. In 2018 the regional revenue including the Hungarian sale had a total revenue of close to 24 billion HUF. The company’s core business includes the distribution of machine tools, technology consulting, machine tool service and the supply of spare parts.

As a market leader machine tool manufacturer, the energy requirements of the machines, the use of coolant and the use of environmentally friendly technologies are always a priority for them – representing high focus in all innovations. Sustainable development is achieved through product design, manufacturing processes, and the continuous development of high skilled employees and engineering competencies to meet the optimal needs of customers. At their technology centre, they try to provide customers with the most productive solution during trial testing while minimizing material consumption. In addition, they contribute to the protection of the environment through the careful choice of raw materials, the reduction of energy, water and oil needs and the refurbishment of obsolete machinery.

The company’s core values ​​include proper annual communication of ethical conduct and the audit of all relevant matters. Respect for human rights also applies to suppliers, and products also go through strict Export Control. If the machines are used for purposes not approved by the company, they can be stopped remotely using a special code. They have a high level of transparency, as accountability is a priority in all cases, and they have all the information about the location and use of their machines and equipment.

Sustainable development is a key value for the company, and by joining BCSDH, they want to further strengthen this by learning about the solutions and perspectives of their and other industries using the strength of the partnership.

Coca-Cola HBC Hungary is committed to create a more sustainable world – The company published its Sustainability Report

In 2019, the Coca-Cola HBC AG Group announced a new growth strategy to be completed until 2025. Their corporate strategy is based on five key pillars, each of which is essential for responsible and sustainable growth that creates value for the company and their stakeholders as well. This strategy is closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, which identified the path to be taken together to create a sustainable world.

Last year was also outstanding in terms of business efficiency for Hungary’s leading beverage manufacturer. The company operates on a stable foundation, and its successful financial performance allows the further expansion of domestic production activities. The goal remains to become the largest production base in Central Europe by expanding its production capacity and introducing modern technological developments. Coca-Cola HBC Hungary had investments worth approximately HUF 5.9 billion in the country last year.

Consumer health and nutrition

As a total beverage manufacturer, the company aims to provide its consumers beverages that meet consumer occasions around the clock by building a wide portfolio of high quality products. In 2019, the company further expanded its product portfolio and launched new products, including a number of low-sugar and low-calorie beverages. Preserving the health of consumers is a goal that the company constantly keeps in mind when developing its portfolio. Nowadays, beverages with reduced calorie make up an increasing proportion of the product range – in 2019, 48% of the portfolio is low-calorie or calorie-free – and the sugar content of existing products is steadily declining. Together with the members of the Hungarian Mineral Water, Fruit Juice and Soft Drink Association, the company has voluntarily pledged that by the end of 2020, soft drinks’ sugar and calorie content will be reduced by 50% compared to 2010. By the end of 2019, the industry’s companies had reduced the average sugar and calorie content of soft drinks and juices in Hungary by 43%.

Keep it in circulation

Packaging waste is a strategic environmental topic for Coca-Cola HBC Hungary: it is an issue relating to fundamental business processes, and its solution is becoming increasingly urgent. Proper packaging is also essential for product freshness and food safety considerations. At the same time, the long-term impact of packaging materials – especially plastic – on the environment has made it clear that new, sustainable solutions must be found. The company is committed to being not only a part of change but also an engine for it. The sustainability approach and goals for packaging waste have been integrated into the World Without Waste strategy announced in early 2018. With this strategy, the Coca-Cola HBC AG Group is closely linked to The Coca-Cola Company’s efforts and considers it a priority to work together with various means for this common cause. In 2019, Coca-Cola HBC Hungary has started to optimize its operating processes in a new approach, with the ambition to create a circular economy. They want to build a future where unnecessary or wasteful use of raw materials is avoided, and materials keep their value within the cycle for a long time. The company strives to build up a closed-loop economic model that is based on resource efficiency and innovation, resulting in a smaller environmental footprint. The cycle consisting the collection and recycling of packaging materials is the most effective way to manage packaging waste, so in 2019, several of the

company’s developments and campaigns targeted this topic. PET bottles produced by Coca-Cola HBC Hungary are made of 100% recyclable plastic and the company is constantly increasing the amount of recycled production material. As a result, the proportion of recycled plastic per bottles was almost 24% in 2019. The goal is to increase this ratio to 50% by 2030.

Employee commitment and well-being

The key of Coca-Cola HBC Hungary’s long-term growth and success is their employees. The satisfaction, improvement, and safety of employees with attractive promotion opportunities are the basis of the excellent performance that creates value not only for the company but also for its customers and consumers. The company has taken a number of measures recently to make the work environment friendly and innovative and to make their employees proud of their company. Based on Randstad’s survey, Coca-Cola HBC Hungary became the most attractive and well-known workplace in the Hungarian FMCG sector in 2019. The PwC survey’s Excellence Award confirmed that a suitable work environment, flexible working, a predictable workload, and a fair starting salary are also attractive to young people starting their careers.

Corporate social responsibility

Coca-Cola HBC Hungary believes that its business success largely depends on the well-being and strength of the communities where the company is present, and its responsible operation requires to respond to the needs of these communities. They aspire for an open partnership and mutual respect with communities everywhere. They support the individuals and communities they contact with through their volunteer corporate programs and the #YouthEmpowered program. They also seek to actively involve employees in the company’s community programs. The most successful events of 2019 were the volunteer days organized for the Zero Waste Tisza program. More than 160 colleagues participated in the program and helped to dispose over 3.3 tons of waste in the upper section of Tisza. Preserving our natural resources has created opportunities for both waste recycling and community building.

The company’s full Sustainability Report 2019 is available on this link.

Clean Home, Clean Planet

The Henkel Laundry & Home Care business unit sets new standards by combining innovation and sustainability. With its product developments, it constantly strives to make the daily lives of their consumers easier. An excellent example for this is the “ProNature” product family, which offers the proven high-quality cleaning performance of trusted Henkel brands in an even more sustainable way, winning over a wide range of consumers.

The ProNature assortment already includes eight products of the brands Clin, Bref, Pur and Somat. The ProNature product family is made using several sustainable ingredients*. In addition, the plastic packaging (excluding the cap) is made of recycled plastic and contains Social Plastic®**. The Somat ProNature box and the back of Bref ProNature toilet fresheners are made of 100% recycled paper. These are just a few reasons why ProNature products also carry the “Ecolabel” label (except for Bref ProNature toilet fresheners).

“Sustainability is an essential part of our business and the main sustainability trends are key parts of our innovation strategy. It is very important to us that our innovative solutions are sustainable and achieve positive environmental impacts in the long run. The ProNature concept plays a valuable role in helping Henkel achieve its ambitious sustainability goals. Moreover, ProNature products represent another step towards achieving our packaging strategy and goals for 2025,” emphasizes Lukáš Hájek, General Manager of Laundry & Home Care.

 

Social engagement: HUF 5 million support to the 10 Million Trees Foundation

Sustainable and responsible actions characterize the collaboration between the ProNature product line and the 10 Million Trees Foundation. As part of a campaign involving ProNature products and consumers, 1,000 trees will be planted nationwide in the coming months.

The 10 million Tree community, which was founded more than a year ago, is now present in nearly 150 settlements and 50,000 trees have already been planted with community funding worth about HUF 1.2 billion by dedicated volunteers. “We believe that our sponsorships with companies, our partnership with Henkel, will yield fruitful results that can bring us closer to achieving our ultimate goal of planting 10 billion new trees faster,” the President of the Foundation added.

Learn more about Henkel’s sustainability efforts and ProNature products.

Also learn about the work of the 10 Million Tree Foundation

* compared to the standard Henkel product range

** Social Plastic® For three years now, Henkel has partnered with the social enterprise Plastic Bank as the first global company, producing consumer goods. The common goal is to reduce plastic pollution of the oceans and at the same time create new opportunities for people living in poverty, especially in countries that do not have waste management infrastructure. The local population can take back the collected plastic waste to the collection points set up for this purpose and exchange it for money, goods or services. This significantly reduces the amount of plastic reaching the oceans and at the same time new value is created. This plastic waste is recycled and gets back into plastic packaging production as Social Plastic®.

Atenor’s 13 years in Hungary results nearly 230,000 m2 inclusive office space

The Belgian-owned Atenor real estate development company has been operating in Hungary for 13 years and is responsible for such mega-projects as Váci Greens, which was completed this year, and Aréna Business Campus, with the first building finished. The office space completed until now and the developments planned over the next few years will result in nearly 230,000 m2 of certified disability inclusive premises, for which they have partnered up with Access4you.

“There is nothing to consider here, this is something that everyone deserves,” said Zoltán Borbély, Atenor’s Country Director, in relation to accessible buildings at an RICS event held in early 2020, featuring a roundtable discussion on inclusive real estate development. Human-centred design is one of the pillars of Atenor’s vigorous international corporate culture, aiming at the implementation of environmentally-conscious real estate investments that are in harmony with the city and which serve the comfort and well-being of the people using the property. Atenor has a clear approach in this regard – when it comes to people, the company takes everyone into consideration, including people with special needs. People with special needs represent 15% of society: wheelchair users, people with restricted mobility, audio-visual disabilities or cognitive impairment.

Why is it important to establish accessible facilities for people with special needs?

Globally, there are 1.2 billion people with special needs, including 120 million people in Europe and 1.5 million people in Hungary. Their integration is of unquestionable importance from the standpoint of human rights and equal opportunities, yet developing and incentivizing the establishment of a universally inclusive environment also offers economic and business advantages for enterprises. People with special needs have an annual purchasing power of USD 8 billion and an even greater significance on the labour market. The intellectual capital, talent and knowledge that people with special needs possess may serve as one of the pillars of companies’ sustainable development. As a sign of this, the growing international trend of global companies focusing on strengthening their inclusive corporate culture is emerging. The presence of people with special needs in all aspects of life is ensured by inclusive properties.

Authentic accessibility, at the highest level

Atenor aims for the highest level of certified accessibility in all its projects. In the case of the 50,000 m2 Váci Greens E and F Buildings and of the entire 72,000 m2 of Aréna Business Campus project, accessibility has been in focus since the beginning of the design phase. Atenor has involved rehabilitation engineers in the development of the engineering plans and has adopted Access4you’s accessibility criteria for 8 different special needs groups. The requirements examine the usability and accessibility of the built environment, including entrance, orientation and available services. Beyond the basic accessibility features for people with restricted mobility, Atenor aims to fulfil the requirements to all groups concerned. Therefore, after the evaluation of the properties, all completed projects may receive an Access4you Certificate of gold level accessibility.

The method will not change

Despite the fact that many companies are reconsidering their office strategies in the current pandemic period, Zoltán Borbély remains optimistic and, instead of a crisis, he foresees the completion of the developments. The long-term plans include identifying tenants who adopt a responsible, sustainable approach to recovery. The company continues its 15,000 m2 RoseVille project on Bécsi street, as well as the 17,000 m2 BakerStreet project, both of which are designed to comply with Access4you’s highest, gold level accessibility certification.

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